Badger Meets Black Widow

It's true. I met a Black Widow spider this morning, lurking in my pack of grapes. I'd eaten most of the grapes and just looked down to see how many I had left, and there it was, waving its legs at me.
I screamed and threw it across the room which probably stunned and deafened it. My colleague nonchalantly picked up the bag and said "oh look there's a spider in there, shall I kill it?"
Since I work in a 6th form college we sealed it up in several plastic bags and I took it up to Biology where it was subsequently confirmed as a rather nasty Black Widow spider from South America. When I called my nonchalant colleague back to tell her she'd been waving a bag with a Black Widow in it she nearly fainted...
The moral of the story is - don't buy snack packs of grapes from Tesco.See here...
Yes I've told Tesco about it and yes I've told the local papers too. I don't think finding venomous spiders in yer grapes is what we expect from a market leader...
Badger who has been hyperventilating all day
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Crikey almighty! I buy those wee packs for my goddaughters all the time! Freaking me out

I'm surprised to find that a badger eats grapes! Red or green?:wink:

Seriously though glad it didn't get you! Sounds like your freaking out made much more sense than your colleague's overwhelming bravado. Ain't hindsight a wonderful thing!!

Also a bit confused by Tesco's statement about using spiders as a pesticide? Dinnae get it how a poisonous spider is better than some harmless wee beastie in yer fruit? Unless the wee beasties get inside the grapes then eeeeeugh!!!

What on earth is the spokesman fro Tesco's on? It certainly isn't planet earth!! His comment... "Safety is our top priority and we have a rigorous checking process in countries which produce our fruit." is a total joke.

Must have been very frightening. Guess that why I prefer Pork Pies to fruit, can't recall too many Black Widows being used as a pesticide in Melton Mowbray!!!

Just one observation the web report is from 2002. Whilst any incident of this type is frightening for the people concerned, I do feel a sense of perspective is needed when you consider all the fruit that must have been imported since 2002.

Also the spokesman from Tescos has probably moved onto greater things like Head of Logistical Stock Replenishment in Consumer Areas.

It could have been a False Widow, which is an English spider. Still with a nastyish bite though.

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No it wasn't. I've met False Widows before. In fact I may have already been bitten by one. And are you casting nasturtiums on the ability of a professional biology teacher who identified it for me?
They do look quite similar at first glance, but False Widows are mostly smaller, browner with a cream coloured band around the abdomen, and does not have the distinctive hourglass mark on its tummy.
Badger The Spider Expert. Know Thine Enemy...
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On the left we have the Black Widow, on the right her less venomous sister, the False Widow.

Calm down dear, it was just a suggestion.
So what was the bite from the pretender like then?

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Painful. For ages I thought it was a wasp sting, but reading the list of symptoms from Falsie bites it might have been one of them. Had a bit of a reaction and ended up in hospital. ALthough was more likely to have been a wasp.

On a more interesting note, I think it's deliciously ironic that Chilean scientists are working on a male contraceptive and a viagra substitute using Black Widow venom.:biggrin: That would be the black WIDOW spider then? Ha ha...
BMB
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All that means is that a) no-one's reported any spiders since 2002 or b) they have reported them and no-one gives a toss.
How many of these things have maybe just escaped from opened bags, found and dismissed as harmless, or just squished and binned?
Frankly, any spider in the grapes is a no-no, but one that can give me Latrodectism is right out.
BMB who has been reading up on Black Widows...
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No dear. That was just an attempt to prove I'm not delusional and that such things have happened before.
However I am front page news in our local rag today. Was expecting to be small column on page 7 or so, but no...
BMB
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